It has been 25 years and a few months since we started unschooling Kirby. It was a solid start, philosophically, but Keith and I expected and were willing to see Marty and Holly go to school if they wanted to. It has been 20 years since Holly decided she didn't want to go to school, either.
With two discussions, a large webpage (SandraDodd.com), a daily blog (Just Add Light and Stir), and a speaking sometimes (including a request I'm considering that would involve another trip to England next year, and I'm hesitant)... should I feel guilty when I want to watch Korean dramas or take a nap? I think about that a few times a week, now.
Keith retired early last year. Soon after, Kirby brought his family from Texas. He, Destiny and her daughter, Devyn—lived with us for several months and then moved into a house they're buying a third of a mile away. They had a crazy-fun wedding last month. Devyn stays with us sometimes. Keith's retirement helped things to slow down at our house. I like it.
There is a new forum for discussing unschooling that I need to get set up and open. I'm hestiating. I'm procrastinating, and I'm wondering why. There are many unfinished projects in my unschooling life (and other parts involving music, sewing, organizing, storing important things...). There are things to start and things to clean up after.
Twenty five years is 9,000+ days. 9,125, today. But that count started when school would have begun for Kirby, in 1991, so adding the time from then, about three months, 90 more days... Round it to 9200 days. Let's say I took some days totally off. I didn't, but it makes the math easier. Some days I probably only spent one hour answering someone's questions or writing about unschooling, or defending it somehow. I'm not going to count the time I spent DOING it, or thinking about doing it better. I'm only counting time spent communicating it to and with other people. So sometimes one hour. Sometimes two. Some days it was twelve hours or more—either at a conference, or when there was some embroilment in a forum or a discussion I was running or deeply involved with. Sometimes I prepared for, and then hosted, and then edited the trancript of a two hour online chat. And then published it. Five to eight hours. Most days, three or four hours spent answering questions online, or writing essays for publication, or preparing or summarizing or publishing talks. 1 (few), 3 (many), 5, 12 (not as many). I'll call it four hours a day in later years, three in earlier years, average. 3.5. I'm probably estimating low. I usually do.
So IF 3.5 times 9200, that's 32,200 hours.
Perhaps it's enough. I'm not going to stop. I'm going to open that new forum soon. But I'm not going to feel guilty if I "only" work two hours some days now that I'm older and my kids are grown.
I'm also going to be surprised if I only work two hours in a day, but it is likely that morally and ethically I have done enough, and the rest is bonus round.
The daily thing: https://justaddlightandstir.blogspot.com
The feedback: https://sandradodd.com/feedback/ (some of it)
Some of the recent posts at Just Add Light have had beautiful photos. I didn't even count time taking, collecting, sorting, storing and retrieving photos, but I do that. There have been over 2,220 Just Add Light posts, each with a photo.
1 comment:
I hope YOU don't feel guilty Sandra. Sometimes I feel guilty because I don't post more to Always Learning. I read everything even when my kids were littler and there were lots of posts. By the time I've done that I've had my attitude subtlety adjusted and I'm looking for the joy. I do go out in the garden and paint and sew sometimes. And I mostly feel grateful for the people and things that support us living this way. Thank you!
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